Armin
by HopeFMA
Summary: An untold tale of Armin's past that merges with the present, bringing Armin a peculiar friend.
1. Chapter 1

Year 843

The day felt lazy—but then again, the days always did. Cumulus clouds passed like great, lumbering giants overhead. The blue sky felt like heavy fluid that dripped constantly on his eyelids. It was almost like he was being smothered by it. The sky wished to put the Shiganshina district to sleep—the entire kingdom to sleep.

Perhaps, he thought, that was why he wished so desperately to step outside the walls. The world outside must contain some sort of energy that the kingdom had been deprived of for a century. Armin need only step outside Wall Maria to be invigorated.

Perhaps, again, this energy was especially vital to Armin. The lack of it was the cause of his frailty—what made him so vulnerable to bullies. What made him depend heavily on Eren and Mikasa. But Armin banished the thought as soon as it entered his mind; thoughts like this only brought him unhappiness.

Sure enough, he turned his head to see Mikasa and Eren in the distance. To Armin's surprise, he needed no energy from the outside world—as soon as he saw these two, he sprung into sitting position, filled with delightful exuberance.

"Eren, Mikasa!" he called. The pair returned his greeting with equivalent warmth and sat beside him.

"Armin, you didn't bring your book today," Eren realized, not with petulance, but with pure curiosity.

"Yeah," Armin replied, his face growing red as he embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck. "My grandfather doesn't want me to get caught with that sort of thing."

"That's prudent of him," Mikasa observed quietly, her mouth concealed by her scarf, crouching behind them.

"Yeah—wiser than me, I suppose." Armin smiled sadly. "I know he's only concerned. Although, I did really enjoy reading about the outside world."

Eren put a strong hand on Armin's shoulder. Armin found himself embarrassed to be wavering under the force of it.

"Your parents can tell you about it, right?"

Eren was beaming cheerfully, as he always did, and Armin felt this small depression of his spirit immediately uplifted. He returned Eren's grin.

The rest of the conversation was spent aimlessly, dissolving eventually into Mikasa and Eren speaking amongst themselves about the Scout Regiment, the kind of conversation that seemed likely to evolve into an argument. So Armin lied on his back and watched the sky to the right. Underneath it, even the people of the town moved about lazily. They traded various things and talked about nothing of importance in the shadows of small buildings. The horses took up a slow trot, giving the wagons difficulty over bumps. The birds flew as if they were underwater, as if with each flap of the wings they were caught in something and slowly had to remove themselves again.

Eren and Mikasa, beside him, were whispering. In Armin's hazy, tired state, it sounded like he was beside a stream. He felt himself falling deeper and deeper into sleep's clutches, but at that very state between dream and reality, he started with a jump.

Because beyond it all, beyond the languid birds above and the tired people below, beyond the trotting, overworked horses burdened by wagons, Armin saw something moving against Wall Maria.


	2. Chapter 2

Flashback to Year 842

Armin recalled a summer's day, a perfect summer's day, one with a comforting breeze following the previous days of sweltering weather. Armin observed that the world always acted in cycles such as this one: a period of blistering anger followed by inevitable calm. It was just an undeniable law that gave Armin a notion that the peace could not last forever—just an inkling in the mind.

As long as peace was maintained, however, Armin and Eren could dream about the outside world. As long as titans were not storming the gates and devouring families, he would not even consider them a factor. In these days, the titans seemed not so much enemies as great, gigantic mysteries that resided somewhere outside the wall. At this period in his life, the idea inspired curiosity rather than horror.

No, his true enemies were fast approaching as he peered around a corner. His eyes widened with shock to observe that his tormentors were the only few there, on a road that seemed to be dotted with people just a few moments before. It appeared that the street's population had changed in the period of time that he had been daydreaming.

In front of him, against the wall across from the alley in which Armin stood, he eyed a rat, curiously inspecting the wall. Armin was transfixed by his sole companion. The rat stood blissfully free of any dangers, innocently abandoning the wall to scratch at the ground below it, as if something was buried in the spot. The rat found the relic he sought, a store of seeds purposefully placed there. In his efforts, however, the rat had recovered buried wire, which tangled in his feet as he searched through the store. As the rat made desperate jerks at the thin material, a cage dropped as if from the sky and entrapped the struggling rodent. At this point, the rat discarded the innocent nature that had comforted Armin and took up an aggressive demeanor, chewing violently at the wire that entangled him.

At this moment, a girl appeared in Armin's narrow field of vision. She was small, smaller than Armin, but gave him the impression that she was somewhere around his age. Her blond hair was cut sloppily at the shoulders, as if she had done it herself with the knife that hung at her side. Her clothes were in a tattered and poor condition, but over her eyes she wore an impressive pair of goggles. The massive contraption made her green eyes appear huge—some sort of magnifying lenses, Armin assumed, which gave her the appearance of an insect. The girl knelt beside the cage, watching the rat struggle intently.

Armin heard the footsteps of the group from before and quickly emerged from his spot to place himself protectively in front of the girl. Surprisingly, he saw nothing but the men's backs, walking away as if discouraged by the girl's presence. In fact, they were muttering amongst themselves with their heads bent, jerking a hand once or twice as if to refer to the girl behind them. Armin turned his head to look.

The girl took no notice of him, but kept her expressionless face focused on the rat in front of her, which appeared to be struggling less and less in surrender. She looked like a cat observing the struggling rat, or, Armin thought in retrospect, like a titan gazing over Wall Maria.

"Excuse me, miss, why do you do that?" Armin asked. The girl did not spare him a glance.

_She's deaf, _Armin realized, watching the girl as the creature collapsed of exhaustion. At this point, the girl lifted a hand, her eyes still watching the rat, and pointed behind Armin. Armin turned to see nothing of interest but the scenery.

He glanced back at the girl, surprised to find her goggles lifted from her face, her eyes boring into his.

"You want me to leave?" he asked. She assented with a single blink.

Armin obeyed, but watched the girl as he began his walk homewards. She pulled at the end of the wire, which was looped so efficiently that, with one tug, it was pulled from the knot around the rat's feet iand nto an untangled, straight wire again. The rat immediately sprung to life again, running the perimeter of its cage with eyes full of hatred. The girl carefully tilted the cage to the right, and the rat launched free of its shackles and into the alley where Armin had just stood.

The girl stood silently and walked away.

She didn't appear again until the world resumed its fit of anger, and the sun bore down on Shiganshina as if castigating it. Armin sat in the scant shadow of a small building, leaning his back against the cool stone wall. Eren, temporarily withheld by chores, had agreed to meet him there. Armin resented himself for not anticipating the change in climate, wishing he had chosen a shady patch of trees instead. Going indoors was out of the question, as the blistering sun turned almost every shop into a furnace. So Armin found himself pressed up against the back of a wall, inching himself closer to it each time the sun rose higher and the shadow grew narrower.

As his eyes remained idle and his mind without entertainment, he allowed them both to wander. He resigned to study a barrel that sat a few feet away from him, standing bravely and openly in the sun. Along its body were the coils of a rope, which were wound tightly at the top and fell slack at the bottom, ending in a curious pile. Finding it visually odd, Armin leaned in to study it.

In a flash of movement, Armin winced as he felt a sharp pain on his hand, just below the knuckle.

_ A snake, _Armin thought, silently chiding himself as he caught the thing gazing at him from its position around the bottom of the barrel. Its eyes were great black pools of mystery, its head lifted from the ground as if in challenge.

And then _she_ was there. The girl placed her goggles by the snake's head, the heat and sudden brightness of the magnifying lens forcing it to recoil back into the shadow of the barrel. She swiftly tipped this onto its side, replacing the lid as the snake retreated inside.

She wasted no time as she went to Armin. She lifted his hand and put her mouth to the wound. Armin watched in awe as the girl intermittently spit his blood onto the cobblestone path behind her.

_She's removing the venom, _Armin thought to himself, dumbfounded.

Armin later spoke with Dr. Yeager about the event, after the girl had left and Eren found Armin still sitting, shocked, under the shadow of the building.

"It's quite a lucky thing that the girl was there, Armin," Dr. Yeager said in the kitchen of the Yeager home, treating Armin's wound. "The effects would have been much worse if she'd not removed the majority of it."

"How much worse, Sir?" Armin asked. Dr. Yeager smiled but did not respond.

"Is she alright?" Eren asked from his position at the table.

Armin smiled. "Most likely; venom isn't dangerous if ingested."

Eren nodded. "This girl seems to have a strange affinity for small animals."

"Not an affinity, I don't think," Armin said thoughtfully. "More of an…understanding."

After that, the conversation dissolved and the burning daylight transitioned into cool night. Armin watched the burning embers of the fire, finding himself thinking only of the peculiar girl and her insect-like goggles.


	3. Chapter 3

Year 843

It was because of these memories that the small mass against Wall Maria became a recognizable shape. As Armin sat there in front of his friends Eren and Mikasa, he saw the recognizable flash of golden blond hair making a slow ascent up the wall.

Armin was about to alert his friends when Mikasa moved to his side, a hand on his shoulder, staring at the same patch of wall. The girl with the goggles was about four meters up.

She had likely chosen the spot beforehand, weaseling herself into a corner that had been reinforced very little in the past few years. Whereas the wall was mostly sheer and flat, this part of the wall was slightly more jagged. A six meter crack slithered up the rock's face, and growing within it was a tough vine. Armin observed that the girl had also taken advantage of the disused corner to gouge footholds near the base without being caught.

The girl slowly took the next meter of climbing, exhausting the last of the vine. Armin looked frantically around himself—_wasn't anyone watching?!_

No, the girl was still at the height where she would be blocked by houses. She slowly braced herself on the sides of the corner, placing her arms firmly against either wall, and began her abandonment of the vine.

She was getting a handhold on any bump and crevice in the wall she could find. On the most miniscule imperfections, the girl would haul her small bodyweight upwards a little bit more. Armin involuntarily rubbed his hands, as if it were his own making the arduous journey.

"We can't let this progress any longer," Mikasa firmly interrupted the silence, calling Armin to attention. "The possibility of a fall becomes deadlier with each meter she gains."

Eren and Armin looked at each other, slightly embarrassed. Truthfully, they had not been paying much attention to the blatant fact, even as it waved itself before their faces. All that had crossed their minds in the moment had been incredible awe and sympathy. _She wants to get out. Isn't that what we want?_

Eren stood. "She's right. Not even the strongest member of the military could make that climb without 3D maneuver gear."

Mikasa looked at Armin.

"Hannes," Armin said.

Before they could take off running, however, they saw the girl remove something from a concealed pocket. The device looked unrecognizable from where they stood, but when the girl pointed it upwards, Eren regretted his words.

A small grappling hook shot from the object, carrying with it a trail of thick wire. It slithered rapidly through the air like a snake, lodging itself three meters from the top of the wall. As soon as the wire was in place, the girl's legs set into motion. She began to make incredible pace up the side of the wall—in fact, she was practically running. The girl's scrawny legs seemed almost to have summoned some immense, otherworldly strength, which launched her speedily up the side of the wall.

_She scrapped together old components of 3D maneuver gear, _Armin realized. _But she didn't have the gas to propel herself upwards. The wire was also limited, and could only reach so far—she had to climb the first ten meters._

People were taking notice now. They began to speak hurriedly amongst themselves in disbelief, until one man took the liberty of shouting, "SHE'S CLIMBING WALL MARIA!"

This alerted everyone. They stood at attention on the roads while women and children streamed from their homes.

_Where is the military? _Armin thought. He looked frantically about himself. _What are they doing? Are they just as baffled as we are?_

Armin turned to look at Eren, shocked to see a grin stretching across his friend's face, intently watching the girl climb.

_She's going to do it. She's going to escape this cage. _Armin couldn't help it—a smile spread across his own face, as well.

The girl rapidly closed in on the end of the wire. Then, she let go.

She propelled herself up the last three meters, free of any wire to secure her. She placed a quick hand on the edge of the wall, then a foot, and saw—Armin knew—a precious glimpse of the outside world.

Then two hands reached out to her, placed themselves on her shoulders, and pushed her back down again.


	4. Chapter 4

Year 843

POV: Erwin

Erwin had detected it before Armin. He had seen the girl moving when she first laid foot on one of the small ledges; he had seen her first grab hold onto the short length of vine. His legion had just returned from a scouting mission, and Erwin was especially aware of the wall whenever he returned. _Someone _had to scrutinize it every so often. The wall was just a fact that no one bothered doubting—like when an adult makes an incorrect statement, and every child accepts it as undeniable, unfaltering law. But Erwin knew better than that. He always had.

However, he hadn't been expecting a small girl to be testing the strength and indomitableness of the wall. He hadn't intervened, either. To his surprise, neither did the Garrison Regiment. How did they feel, seeing a small child making the grandiose wall seem like a miniature fort?

"Erwin?" asked one of the scouts then, shifting uncomfortably. "Shouldn't we be doing something?"

They all stood around him, gazing expectantly. He could read their thoughts, which were swimming blatantly in their eyes. _All we need to do is shout—threaten arrest, perhaps. She'll come down in an instant._

People were already doing that. The pastor was demanding attention like a petulant child throughout the streets, shouting his complaints in a voice that pierced the buzz of all the others: "**How dare she defile the sanctity of Wall Maria! That girl will be the death of us all—invoking the wrath of God!"**

Others simply shouted curses up at the girl, threatening to bring her down themselves—as if it were something within their capability.

_But she's deaf, _Erwin thought to himself. _She's aware of you, but not particularly inclined to turn around and see you._

"Erwin—"

"No." Erwin responded to the scout, narrowing his eyes against the sun. "I'm interested in just how high she can get."

_And, _he thought, _in gauging her reaction time, _anticipating not that the girl would fall, but that her progress would be hindered _somehow._ That moment would be incredibly crucial. Even deaf, her value as a soldier could still be determined. A sharp mind, quick observations, and phenomenal reflexes could compensate for the disadvantage her ears gave her.

The girl released the wire at the top of the wall, and Erwin felt himself smile. _Gutsy._ She easily propelled herself up the remaining length of wall.

And then there were the hands—the hands of a Garrison Regiment officer. The person to whom the hands belonged wore a shocked expression, as if it were he that had just been pushed off a fifty-meter wall. Of course, the majority of his regiment were lazy drunks. The man had likely just been ordered to the top of Wall Maria to investigate the trouble, only to find himself staring the girl in the face. And in one, hurried and surprised reflex, he shoved the girl away from himself.

The girl did not fall. As soon as his hands touched her shoulders, her hands grabbed his arms. In one fluid movement of the foot, it was he dangling off the wall, and she hanging onto him by the forearms. The moment dragged on; the girl gazed down at the man's terrified face as if to determine exactly what she was looking at. Then, as if she concluded that he was harmless, she hauled him onto the wall beside her. Once there, he spent hardly a minute catching his breath before racing along the top of Wall Maria in a panicked and clumsy sprint.

The girl remained. She was on her knees and staring into the world beyond, mesmerized. In this state of hypnosis, she rose to her feet and ambled to the edge of the wall that faced the world beyond. It was at this point that Erwin finally felt a reasonable amount of concern edging into his mind.

A member of the Garrison Regiment did it before he had to. He swept the girl up as an owl might capture its prey and transported her safely to the ground—but the ground was not safe. The girl collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, her energy so depleted that even moving had to be excruciating. The villagers set upon the helpless girl, kicking her in the stomach, the arms, and the face. In good sense, the girl had removed her goggles beforehand, which were now tucked away somewhere where no one would truly humiliate her by taking her treasured possession.

A few made good and honest protest against the attack. Two boys, in particular, made the most vehement of these, restricted by stronger and stupider men. But beyond the chaos of the frequent attacks, the men shouting and kicking and cursing, the girl's face became visible, flickering, through a mass of moving legs. Though blood gushed from her nose and trickled from the side of her mouth, across her face stretched a broad and careless smile, her eyes gazing somewhere beyond.


	5. Chapter 5

Year 843

POV: Girl With Goggles

The offenders got tired, as people always do. They expended their hatred which, much like their physical energy, was exhausted in one violent outburst. The crowd diminished in phases, until the last ones remaining, for lack of group support, left as well. Then it was only the girl lying on the stone path. Her body was frequented with patches of drying blood, and in the places of severest damage, blood still flowed anew. She felt as if she were a delicate doll that had just fallen from a shelf. Everywhere her body ached, making her afraid to move. She was a broken doll who had fallen from the shelf of Wall Maria. The slightest movement would cause her entire body to shatter. So she lied on the stone road like a dead thing—with the dead things.

In a way, the girl was always alone. Her deafness had always made her feel like she was behind a window, watching the world. In reality, however, she was not. Directly ahead was a group of kids, only slightly older than her, gazing at her face with looks of concern, pity, and horror. They were scrutinizing her, as if to determine if she was alive or not. She recognized the one, the boy with blond hair and blue eyes. He had watched her capture the rat. He had talked to her—an incredibly uncommon thing.

The first scavenger arrived then, a buzzard, and the girl immediately forgot the group and turned her attention to it. It circled a few times before perching itself two meters away, cocking its head in an almost curious expression.

_It's waiting, _the girl thought, and her mouth curved into a faint smile. _But I'm not dead yet._

Although, if she lied there long enough, she eventually would be. But why trouble herself with standing? A bird stood patiently watching her and she quite enjoyed watching it, and there wasn't a more fitting way to die than like a rat, or like a bird, or like a snake—in the road.

The group of children did not see this. The brunette yelled, taking dangerous strides forward and shooing the bird away. The bird cawed in retort as it took off, perching itself on the roof of a nearby house and watching from there, instead. The girl sighed to herself, one of the only sounds in her repertoire. The others included different variations of grunting, which she only used in situations of stress.

The girl placed her hands on the ground and began to lift, beginning to feel a rumbling in the back of her throat, the beginning of one of those rare noises. She winced. Her face twitched aggressively, as if in protest. The girl had scaled Wall Maria and yet, somehow, this was worse. Pain shot up her legs and arms in remembrance of the feat, but the pain in her stomach was excruciating. Her abdomen had been a favorite spot of the abusers.

She pushed herself onto her knees and carefully relieved the pressure from her hands, placing it instead on her legs. These had faced the most strenuous part of the climbing. The girl rose into crouch before pushing herself into the standing position, stumbling and nearly yelping at first, but slowly getting onto her feet. Thus, she slowly ambled away.

She saw a shadow approaching rapidly, likely running, and knew that it was the blond boy. She didn't stop her slow limp, though she knew that his pace far outmatched hers. Her eyes narrowed in extreme concentration and slight irritation, fighting the pain that shot up from her heel and into her stomach. From there, it branched out to the extremities, reaching the very tips of her fingers and ending in a pulsing, horrible headache that pounded against her cranium.

The boy was closing in now, but at that moment, a larger shadow—a human silhouette—fell across the girl. She stopped in her tracks, stupefied. _No one_ ever intercepted her like that The girl always knew the exact number of people surrounding her and their precise locations, noticing the tiniest shifts in movement and change in shadows.

And yet, at that moment, she found herself staring at a tall blond man, wearing a green cloak that proclaimed his membership in the Scout Regiment.


	6. Chapter 6

Year 843

POV: "Girl with Goggles"

The man towered over her. The light of day was fading, throwing shades of dying gold and red across the street. The man's face, turned away from this light, was cast in shadow. The hollows where his eyes rested were black pits save for the shining blue irises. His mouth was curved into a line that indicated amiable intentions, but the girl, now safely guarded behind the distorted world of her goggles, remained guarded. The man's lips parted in the beginning of a speech. The girl, deciding to remain, watched their movements carefully.

"You've got an impressive set of legs," the mouth formed. The man seemed to know better than to slow his speech for her, and the flow of his words ran at a casual, conversational pace.

The girl looked at the man's own legs, huge trunks which dwarfed the twiggy branches her legs took the form of. She had seen far better legs than hers within the length of a day—felt them, rather, in the middle of the road like a flattened rodent.

"I'm Erwin, an officer of the Scout Regiment," he said, pausing for a few short seconds. The girl wondered if he was waiting for her to catch up, to process all that he had just spoken, or if he was simply used to a response from the other person, and so was subconsciously leaving this gap in conversation. All that resounded for her part (or all the girl _thought_ resounded) was silence, though the girl could feel the thin breath contorting her torso and a pulsing heartbeat in all the places she had bled profusely. As far as she could remember, the only sound the girl had ever known was an annoying ringing sound that plagued her ears whenever her head ached. While the attackers had kept mostly away from her head, a clumsy foot would occasionally slip or a particularly cruel person would land a good blow to it. This is what caused the dreadful bash to her nose, as well as the pounding headache and the incessant, irritating sound. While outside the window of her eyes all was calm and even beautiful, inside her guarded turret her body was in a state of misery.

"May I ask your name?" the man began again.

The girl's eyes narrowed in puzzlement.

_A name, _she thought in slight irritation. _He thinks I have one of those._

The kids at the orphanage called her Rat. This was partly for her interest in them and partly for her similarity in demeanor: keeping silent, thieving, disappearing into shadows, and holding only her own survival in importance. The girl didn't mind the name, and agreed that it suited her, but the girl suspected that the man Erwin was searching for a "real" name. That and she was somewhat reluctant to give this name to him, feeling it should only be reserved for her fellow orphans.

The girl looked around her for something to reference. There were barrels, boxes, houses, shops, and various other objects that were unsuitable names for human beings. The girl turned to her left, seeing Wall Maria glimmering in the setting sun. The beginnings of a name formed in her head.

The girl returned her gaze to the man and pointed to her right. Erwin's eyes followed the length of her slender arm to the direction she was indicating, his eyebrows furrowing pensively. He did not guess aloud, but seemed almost to be quietly suggesting ideas to himself and discarding them simultaneously.

"Rose," he said after only a few seconds' thought, returning his gaze to the girl's face. The girl, in turn, pointed to her left, where Wall Maria greeted the man's eyes.

"Rose Maria?"

The girl shook her head.

"Rosemary."

The girl nodded and the man smiled. The name seemed far too pretty for a small, dirty, blood-soaked child like herself, but naming herself after the wall she had conquered, if only for a moment, filled her with a great sense of pride. Rosemary was also a herb, and somehow the simplicity of this seemed befitting of her.

"Were you curious, Rosemary?" Erwin asked. It was reasonable for him have asked for a name before he reached this point, the direct address increasing the effectiveness of his words. The girl was no longer behind a window. The question was calling her, Rosemary, out—challenging her. "Do you want to get out of these walls?"

The girl, knowing her hesitation would only lead her into a trap, nodded straightaway. She anticipated the man's next question:

"Every mission, we lose more and more soldiers to the gluttonous Titans—brave soldiers, who operate on the same curiosity as you. And you weren't afraid?"

_The girl was standing atop Wall Maria, gazing down at the world beyond. The sky was blue and dotted with bustling cumulus clouds. Trees flooded her view, and birds chirped up from the depths of trees. The world was entirely peaceful, and not an unusual creature was in sight. _

_…Until she looked down._

_She stood at the very edge of the wall now, her toes at the very border. She saw something red, something indiscernible until she descried the dull, chilling eyes above it. She was staring down the throat of a five meter Titan. The creature's jaws stretched endlessly wider every minute, its tongue curling in anticipation. Her goggles gave a magnifying effect to this, making the gaping mouth appear even larger. Two smaller Titans were by the larger Titan's side, staring lustfully up at her, their hands clawing at the wall as if to climb it. The girl was paralyzed._

**_Jump._**

_She was terrifyingly aware of her ability to do this, a both exciting and uncomfortable rush. She felt a force pushing at her back, the wide open jaws of the monster beguiling her, inviting her in. And why shouldn't she enter? This was the natural order, wasn't it? The strong eat the weak, the snakes eat the rats._

_But the girl knew better than that. What she respected about animals was that everything was in the name of self-survival. But the Titan didn't __**need**__ her. It __**wanted **__her. It was a hunger, but a hunger of a different kind. The girl stumbled backward, horrified, into the arms of the man who returned her to the ground._

The girl considered all of this. Of course, she wasn't _originally _afraid of the Titans. The Titans had been a frightening story, a story that had the implication of reality but had yet to take the form of it.

However, there it had been, embodied before her. Though the girl feared no rat or snake, even one 5 meters tall, the girl had stared down the throat of the Titan—_horrified._

Yet she looked at Erwin's face despite and mouthed the words: "What's a titan?"

Erwin nodded respectfully. Yes, curiosity could triumph over fear. The desire for freedom could conquer the desire to live in safety. Rosemary knew, had always known, that she would accept the risk and could pay the only price her destitution allowed—her insignificant life.

"Come with me; I'll have someone treat your wounds, and then we have something to discuss."

Rosemary, despite of her own nature, followed the man, but looked behind her. She knew that the boy with blond hair had been watching the conversation, along with the brown-haired boy whose eyes followed Erwin in awe, as well as one beautiful girl who wore an unreadable expression.

Rosemary gave a single blink as if to say goodbye—to say thank you, almost, before turning away and catching up to the tall figure of Erwin.


	7. Chapter 7

Year 843

POV: Rosemary

"Have you ever thought about joining the Scout Regiment?" Erwin asked her. Rosemary had stayed with the family of a woman of the regiment, where they had provided her with a thorough cleaning. Though Rosemary wished to do it herself, she submitted to her wounds being bandaged by an old woman who resided there. In the morning light, sitting on a crate beside Erwin, a chess table between them, Rosemary was redressing her wounds. She had to look up at Erwin every so often to catch what he was saying, balancing this with the task at hand, as well as with the chess game where a truce had been temporarily reached.

Of course, when very young, she had wanted to join the Regiment. This was before she realized there was something wrong. Everyone spoke of those things called _sounds_, and just what a wonderful thing hearing was, and how unfortunate for her that she was unable to hear them. Others would attempt some sort of encouragement: "You're so lucky to be deaf, Rat; you don't have to listen to this blubbering idiot over here." Rosemary paid no attention it.

But she did become aware that her deafness put her at a disadvantage when it came to entering the military. It was simply _cruel_ to allow a deaf person near the Titans, but allowing a regular person to fight fifteen meter Titans, and likely die within their first few weeks or months of service, was absolutely allowable.

Rosemary shook her head.

"What if your deafness were not an issue?"

Rosemary gave a slow nod, a puzzled look spreading across her face. Erwin only smiled, returned to the chess board, and slid his knight into a new position, forcing the girl to focus again and reassess.

Year 843

POV: Erwin

The case had been a difficult one to argue, and his commander was perplexed as to why Erwin was so interested in it. There were a few incurable and obvious issues: firstly, of course, that the girl was deaf, and secondly, she was quite young, the slightness of her starving frame only contributing to her diminutive appearance. Thirdly, the girl simply didn't _look_ like someone to be reckoned with. Even though petite in figure, there could be _some_ indication of ferocity in a child that age—maybe an apathetic, almost sociopathic stare, or perhaps a cruel and stoic countenance, eyes veiling a hellish rage. All the girl's eyes concealed, however, was a bright and sparkling intellect. The girl's eyes were alive with thought that made one curious to know just what was happening inside her head. Perhaps the girl could be a successful engineer one day, but surely not a soldier.

"I simply don't see how it's possible, Erwin," his superior said. His arms were folded in front of his chest, but his position against his chair was relaxed. This casualness was something reserved for Erwin. "The Scouting Legion is not well liked, and there are powerful philanthropists who would protest the idea. They wouldn't even recognize the poor conditions the girl lives under and their failure to do anything to improve it."

"They'd spare her from death only to allow her to live a miserable life," Erwin agreed.

"And say, 'You're welcome dear, study your best!'" his commander finished satirically. "As if the girl had ever been taught to be anything other than a beggar."

"You're opposed to my idea, and yet you're encouraging me down this train of thought."

"This is the military, not a charity," his commander admonished. "No matter what kind of earthly miseries exist here, it cannot compare to the hellish perils out _there._" His gaze was firm. "You have your generosity, and I have mine."

Erwin was standing, gaze locked with the seated man's.

"Countless men—strong, brave, and smart men," the commander continued, "have died on our scouting missions. And you're telling me that a child, a quarter the size of a grown man, is absolutely necessary for the cause of fighting the Titans?"

Erwin understood. The man was prodding him on. Though the story of the girl's climb had been contained publicly, rumors had more than likely trickled up the martial hierarchy. Erwin feared the story would suggest future insubordination, but surrendered to the other man's curiosity.

"She scaled Wall Maria."

Though this had not been the first time the commander heard the news, he appeared taken aback by its being confirmed.

"How?"

"She climbed the first few meters barehanded, and then used 3D maneuver gear parts to secure a wire to the top of the wall. From there, she simply sped upwards with her legs."

The commander commenced a pensive trance, his eyes focused on the floorboards as he processed all that had been said. Several minutes passed before he spoke again.

"And you believe that restricting this girl from the Scout Regiment—that would be _true _cruelty?" the commander was not employing the Socratic method, as he usually enjoyed doing, but was looking up at Erwin with a face that posed a grave and sincere question.

Erwin responded immediately.

"Like watching a tormented rat successfully claw its way out of a cage, only to push it back down again."


	8. Chapter 8

Year 844

POV: Armin

There had never been a formal report for the incident. This lack of public uproar reduced all gossip to confused, unconfident whispers.

"_You _saw it, right? That girl—she climbed the wall. I know it."

But the last statement was never as self-assured as it needed to be. It was always open-ended, always with the inflection of a question. They never doubted that they had seen it happen—everyone had—but their military never addressed it. Did the event even matter? Had it ever even happened? Were they all just…insane?

The more time that was put between the district and the event, the more confused the people's memories became. Had the girl climbed _all _the way to the top, or a mere quarter of the way? She didn't get even that far, some men claimed. She couldn't have.

Some witnesses denied the event altogether. There was no possible way a girl could ever climb a fifty meter wall. Holding to this belief made things…easier. Simpler.

The conviction would have greatly eased Armin Arlert, but he would not allow himself to believe it. All he knew was that both his parents and the girl had wanted to leave these walls, and now…they were both gone.


	9. Rosemary's Goggles, Part 1

Year 844

POV: Erwin

Rosemary's goggles were of an ingenious design. Erwin had inspected them before she entered the cadet corp. The lenses were thick, curved circles. When he looked through them, they provided a crisp, magnificent image of the world. There was, however, one circle on the lens through which the world was blurred. Erwin, sitting at a desk, removed the lenses from over his eyes and put them over a letter. The large words "stables today.." became visible in the small circle.

"A magnifying glass," Erwin remarked to himself. The girl sat in a chair across from Erwin, occasionally watching him. The girl was bored, projecting a look of disapproval from across the desk when she was not gazing absentmindedly out the window. Or maybe her mind wasn't absent at all. Erwin could never tell.

The most surprising thing about the goggles, Erwin noticed when he picked them up again, were the pieces of angled metal on the edges. There were curved panes of metal at the edge of the goggles as well as a plate on either side of the straps. The plates connected to the straps rotated on miniscule hinges, and were so obscure that Erwin hadn't originally noticed them.

He placed the goggles over his eyes again, surprised to see the bookshelves behind him reflected in these plates of metal. This provided Erwin with an approximately 300º view of the world around him. When he rotated the small, sheen pieces of metal attached to the sides of the goggles, he was able to see the rest of it.

Erwin put them down again, examining the material of the lenses. Tempered glass? Had to be. How safe was it?

With a large clatter, Erwin threw the goggles to the ground with all his might. The deaf girl jumped before the noise even began, quickly observing the large man's muscles contract, turning to watch his hand release her goggles. Rosemary gave an irritated twitch of the brow, but to Erwin's surprise, no horror spread across her face.

He strolled over to observe the damage, finding no pieces of glass scattered across the floor. He crouched over the strewn body of the goggles.

_Not even a scratch_, Erwin observed, dumbfounded, to himself. Despite the fact that a small child sat nearby, watching him treat her most treasured item so brutally, Erwin felt challenged by the calm, unquestioning goggles. He put a foot on them and slowly began to press his bodyweight onto them. It was at this point that the girl began to look somewhat bewildered, though her anxiety was small compared to her annoyance.

Still, Erwin kept leaning, daring his foot to put more and more pressure on the goggles.  
And still, the goggles resisted.

Erwin gave up at this point, and Rosemary relaxed in her seat, but only slightly. Her eyes followed Erwin as he retrieved her goggles and returned to his seat behind the desk.

"I don't know where you got these, but they're tough as hell."

_Not to mention the __**design**__,_said Erwin to himself. _It makes sense. As someone who's deaf, you'd want to maximize your other senses as much as possible—though, the girl's pretty observant on her own, isn't she?_

Erwin looked across at the Rosemary, who was now watching his face, rather than the goggles. _Not that she's going to tell me, but I wonder where a girl like her got a pair of goggles like these?_

Year 842

POV: Rosemary

While most other animals required cunning trickery, all the girl needed to persuade the bird were a few bread crumbs and a small, muddy hand. This earthen ledge provided a comfortable, safe landing for the creature. Unlike most other children, the girl was not seized by an overwhelming urge to coddle the bird, but she did have to prevent herself from observing it too closely.

The girl averted her gaze, giving a small start to find a man staring at her through the window of a shop. Though the shock was small, the bird felt the effect of it from its position on "her hand. It ceased its happy pecking for a moment, jerked its head in several directions, and resumed its plucking at the dainty pieces of bread that remained. The girl turned to watch it, and when she returned her gaze to the man in the shop, he had materialized outside of the building and was marching towards her. His legs were feeble and flimsy but his gait was swift; his face wore a constant stoic expression. His brow frowned in the way an elder's usually does, so that you cannot determine if it is age or irritability that weighs it down. Resting on his nose was a delicate pair of glasses with a petite frame and small, precise lenses. Attached to the side of the frame on either side were substitute lenses, but the old man chose to glare at her through the pair on the main frame. The bird took flight when the man reached the midway point, leaving the girl alone.

"You look like death," the man said when he reached her, identifying his previously indiscernible expression as one of disapproval. "And I wasn't expecting death for yet another few years to come."

The girl's hands still rested as if there were still a bird in them, upturned and open-palmed, as she gazed up at the man.

"You're a ghost of a girl in this corner. People pass you by as if they don't see you, but there I was in my shop, constantly distracted by your pitiful appearance."

Perhaps he was the sort of old man that expected a cheeky response from a child—the sort that _hoped_ the kid would say something stupid, just so he could continue his remonstrance until his face was red. Nevertheless, there were odd, uncomfortable pauses in his monologue in which he would simply stare at the girl, his eyes denoting irritability.

"I've done nothing good in my life. Nothing bad, either—but nothing good. This is some higher power's way of determining my placement before I die, isn't it?—'Look, Buchwald, it's someone **_even less_** fortunate than you. And look! It's even worse! She's feeding an even **_less _**fortunate bird bread crumbs. What are you going to do about it?'"

The girl provided him no answer.

"I've got no food or money besides what I need to live off of. What could a person like me possibly do for you?" The man paused. "Are you deaf?"

The girl said nothing, likely the most affirmative answer one could give to the question.

The man's face shifted slightly, resembling something more like intrigue.

"Come with me," he said.


End file.
